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You should almost always use Archive rather than Delete if you want to remove messages from your Inbox. GMail has a very large (and ever-increasing) storage capacity so you're better off never deleting anything and always having the ability to search for and retrieve messages later.
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jwaddellOct 2 '09 at 1:05

is it so hard for google to make a default label "archive" or "whatever" that is auto assigned for the emails that pressed(so easy) the button [archive]? actually im doing this manually: i've made a label "archive", i assign this label to the email and then i press the button [archive]. i found this as minus at gmail functionality.
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boombapaboomFeb 2 '11 at 12:09

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@boombapaboom archiving means removing the Inbox "label", an Archive label would be just not having the Inbox label.
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Michel de RuiterMay 8 '12 at 20:39

5 Answers
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In the left pane there should be an "All Mail" option. If there isn't, expand the down arrow that should say something like "6 more" (see screenshot below), and click All Mail. Select them and you can move them back to the inbox if desired.

Yeah, but, as jwaddell said, when you click on Archive, the selected messages are removed from Inbox. All Gmail messages have markers, so, when doing that, you are removing Inbox marker from selected messages. To see all messages regardless of markers, do as explained by John T. To retrieve those e-mails to your Inbox, search for them, select them and move them to your Inbox.
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kokbiraFeb 2 '11 at 11:37

Archive removes the label inbox on your mail, without any other labels on the mail it's possible to find under All Mail or via search (as already said). I don't agree that they 'go to All Mail' as all (except Trash and Spam I think) mail is always there.

They go to All Mail. It should on the left side in the list under Compose Mail. Gmail changed some stuff around a while back so it might be hidden for you. If it is, click Settings (upper right corner), go to the Labels tab, and select which System labels you want to be displayed.